Abrading and scouring roll



My 1933- E. HOPE 1,917,303

ABRADING AND SCOURING ROLL Filed April 25. 1929 Fig.1.

Patented July 11, 1933 UNETED STATES 1,917,303 PATENT orricn ERNEST HOPE, LEICESTER, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOB T0 UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, 01'' PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY ABRADING AND SCOUBING ROLL Application filed April 23, 1929, Serial No. 357,561, and in Great Britain May 24, 1928.

This invention relates to rolls for abrading, scouring, polishing, or similar operations, and is herein disclosed as embodied in a scourlng roll suitable for use in the manufacture of boots and shoes.

The roll contemplated by my invention may be used with advantage for all light abradingor scouring operations, such as the removal of small amounts of material, or the removal of material from small areas, or the smoothing, scouring or polishing of rela tively small areas of curved or irregular shapes. As an example of one field of use of the invention, I would refer to the operation of scouring the curved breast surface of Louis or semi-Louis wood heels used in the manufacture of womensshoes. Either before or after the attachment of such heels to the shoe, it is customary to subject them to a light scouring operation to remove irregularities of contour and impart to the heel the fine lines desired in good shoemaking. A similar operation is carried out upon the attached heel after the breast h been covered by the leather flap of the sole and, in this case, the margin of the flap is scoured to bring its edge smoothly intoconforniity with the curved contour of the heel. In all these operations it is more or less diiiicuit to reach the surface to be scoured without damaging other por tions of the shoe by allowing the moving abrasive surface to touch them, and. clearance between the tool and work is very limited on account of the pronounced curvature of the heel and of the adjacent parts of the shoe.

I have solver the problem above discussed by providing an endless circular band of abrasive material supported by a rotary core throughout a limited circumferential Zone, leaving an edge to project freely into space. By this construction, I have made available a tool having a portion which is the equivalent of a circular band of abrasive material, rotating freely in space, thus presenting conditions of maximum clearance and facilitating the presentation of curved and irregular surfaces to its action. WVith such a con struction, the diameter of the tool may be made sufliciently great to supply an adequate length of abrasive surface so that efficiency of operation and a satisfactory life of the abrasive is secured.

I prefer to employ an abrasive band presenting a convex exterior surface in order conveniently to reach surfaces concaved with a short radius of curvature in the surface being secured. A feature of, the invention, accordingly,consists in a rotary core formed with a convex peripheral surface encircled by an abrasive-band also outwardly convex but of longer radius of curvature than the supporting face of the core. In addition to affording an abrasive surface of convenient shape, the rotatin band is stiffened by its transverse curvature and the overhanging or projecting margin thereof is rendered more efficient in operation.

Other features of the invention relate to the rotary support orcore. It is desirable that the abrading or scouring surface ofthe roll may yield both radially and axially in accommodating itself to Work having an irregular contour. WVith these considerations in View, 'I preferto employ a core in the form of a disk of yielding material, such as rubher, and to intensify the yielding capacity thereof by slitting the peripheral portion of the disk non-radially to form a plurality of sections which will'expand under the influence of centrifugal force when the roll is rotated. The abrasive band is thus supported yieldingly by the centrifugal pressure of these sections and at the same time effective driving relation is established between the core and the band. A desirable result of this construc tion is that, where the engagement of the core with the transversely curved band is limited to a central peripheral zone, the centrifugal expansion of the core tends to emphasize the convex curvature of the band, drawing the edges thereof inwardly in displacing the center portion outwardly. I

Preferably, the sections of the core will be produced by slits or incisions disposed obliquely to the axis of the roll. Under these. circumstances, the centrifugal action tends to separate adjacent sections v and form oblique passages between them, thereby inducing transverse air currents through the roll and tending to cool its peripheral abrasive band.

These and other features of the invention will be best'understood and appreciated from the following description of apreferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration' and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which 7 Fig. 1 is a View of the roll in side elevation; and

transversely curved, convex surface.

Fig. 2 is a view in edge elevation, partly in section, on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The roll herein shown is carried by a shaft 13 which may be. mounted and driven in any convenient manner. The shaft is provided with a flange 15, beyond which its end is reduced and threaded to receive a nut 17 provided with a corresponding flange 16. A pair of disks or collars 14 are mounted upon the reduced end of the shaft and engaged at their outer surfaces by the flanges 15 and 16. Clamped between the collars 14 is a disk or core 10 of rubber, or similar yielding and flexible material. The disk 10 is of substantially uniform thickness in its area cor responding to the collars 14. The disk 10 extends substantially beyond the periphery of the collars 14 and its sides taper to a nar row convex peripheral surface.

The outer portion of the disk 10 is divided into a plurality of sections by slits or incisions 12 which are disposed tangent to a circle in diameter somewhat greaterthan half the diameter of the disk and also oblique to the axis of the disk, as shown in Fig. 2. The sections thus formed are wider at their outer ends than at their root and, on account of the .flexible nature of the material of the disk, the

sections are free to swing outwardly under centrifugal action when the disk is rotated and become separated one from another at their outer ends.

An endless band 18 of abrasive material, such as sandpaper or emery cloth, encircles the disk or core 10. This is flexible but inelastic and is molded to present anexterior band 18 is disposed symmetrically upon the core 10 and is substantially wider than the core, so that both its marginal edges project outwardly beyond the face of the core. The radius of curvature of the band 18 is substantially greater than the radius of curvature of the peripheral surface of the core 10. It will be seen that the band 18 is engaged by the peripheral surface of the core in a limited centrally-disposed Zone while the edges of the band project freely into space.

The sections of the core are normally collapsed and form a continuous peripheral surface, as shown in Fig. 1, and in this condition the band 18 fits snugly upon the core. The shaft 13 is rotatedto drive the roll in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, that is to say, in such a direction that the pressure of the work tends to close the slits. In the rapid rotation of the roll, however, the centrifugal force developed in the sections tends to swing them outwardly, expanding the roll in effect, and engaging the band 18 with an increasing degree of radial pressure as the speed of rotation is increased. This first increases the pressure of engagement between the abrasive band and its core, estab- Z lishing an effective driving connection and The preventing slippage between the two. I The centrifugal pressure of the core upon the central Zone of the band 18 tends to emphasize the transverse curvature thereof by drawing the peripheral edges inwardly and forcing the'center portion outwardly. The separation of the sections of the core forms inclined tapering passages which extend transversely and obliquely through the core and thus induce transverse air currents beneath the band 18 which tend to prevent overheating of the hand in any continuous abrading or scouring operation.

lVhile the dimensions of the roll and its various parts are of secondary importance only and may be selected with a view to the requirements of the work in hand, I have found that for scouring wood heels a d1sk l f in diameter and thick at its central part, driven at a speed of 2500 revolutlons per minute, produces highly satisfactory results.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A roll of the class described comprising a rotary core having a narrow convex periphcry, and a band of abrasive material encircling said core, being transversely convex upon a radius longer than that of theconvex periphery of the core and overhangmg the core.

A roll. of the class described comprising a narrow rotary core of flexible material having sections formed by non-radial slits therein, and a wider band of flexible abrasive material encircling said core.

3. A roll of the class described comprising a relatively narrow rotary core of flexible material having sections formed by non-radia slits extending in a direction oblique to the axis of the core, the sections tending to separate centrifugally and form oblique passages through the core, and a wlder band offlexible airasive material. encircling said core.

4. A roll of the class described comprising a rotary core tapering outwardly to a convex periphery and slitted obliquely to form a plurality. of expansible sections, and a band of flexible abrasive encircling said core, being transversely convex and overhanging the core at both of its edges.

5. A tool for abrading, polishing, or the like, comprising a yielding disk clamped between unyielding collars and projecting beyond the same so that theprojecting portion of the disk can yield bothradially and laterally, the peripheral portion of said disk being formed into sections by non-radial slits, and an abrading ringheld onthe yielding disk by centrifugal expansion of the sections ERNEST HOPE. 

